-- U.S. fund Brookfield Infrastructure to buy a stake in Spanish toll road operator Abertis as part of a joint deal to acquire a stake in OHL's highway assets in Brazil (notified Sept. 21/deadline Oct. 26/simplified)

NOV 16 -- Finnish group Outokumpu to acquire German group ThyssenKrupp's Inoxum stainless steel unit (notified April 10/deadline extended for the third time to Nov. 16 from Oct. 24 after Outokumpu offered commitments) NOV 30

-- Hong Kong's Hutchison 3G, which is part of Hutchison Whampoa , to acquire telecoms operator Orange Austria from France Telecom (notified May 7/deadline extended for the third time to Nov. 30 from Nov. 27 to allow a market test of Hutchison 3G's concessions)

JAN 15 -- U.S. mail delivery company United Parcel Service Inc

to acquire Dutch peer TNT Express (notified June 15/deadline extended for the fourth time to Jan. 15 from Dec. 20 after the European Commission asked for more time)

FEB 6

-- Ryanair to acquire Aer Lingus (notified July 24/deadline extended for the second time to Feb. 6 from Jan. 14)

GUIDE TO EU MERGER PROCESS DEADLINES:

The European Commission has 25 working days after a deal is filed for a first-stage review. It may extend that by 10 working days to 35 working days, to consider either a company's proposed remedies or an EU member state's request to handle the case.

Most mergers win approval but occasionally the Commission opens a detailed second-stage investigation for up to 90 additional working days, which it may extend to 105 working days.

SIMPLIFIED:

Under the simplified procedure, the Commission announces the clearance of uncontroversial first-stage mergers without giving any reason for its decision. Cases may be reclassified as non-simplified -- that is, ordinary first-stage reviews -- until they are approved.